Restrictions lifted after 160,000 Spaniards confined due to toxic cloud
An order was lifted on Saturday to confine around 160,000 people in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region after a fire at an industrial estate caused a toxic cloud of chlorine over a wide area, the regional government said.
The blaze at a swimming pool cleaning products company started at 2:20 am (0020 GMT) in Vilanova i la Geltru, a town 48 km south of Barcelona and caused a huge plume of chlorine smoke over the area.
Authorities had told people in the affected zone to stay at home, but hours later lifted the order.
"If you are in the zone that is affected, do not leave your home or your place of work," the Civil Protection service had said on social media site X.
No one has been hurt in the fire, Catalan emergency services said on Saturday, but residents in five towns were sent a message on their mobile phones telling them to remain inside.
"It is very difficult for chlorine to catch fire, but when it does so it is very hard to put it out," the owner of the industrial property, Jorge Vinuales Alonso, told local radio station Rac1.
He said the cause of the fire might have been a lithium battery.
Trains which were due to pass through the area were held up, roads were blocked and other events were cancelled.
The fire was under control, Civil Protection spokesperson Joan Ramon Cabello told the TVE television channel.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Etihad
4 days ago
- Al Etihad
Hurricane Erick strengthens as it barrels toward Mexico
19 June 2025 09:04 PUERTP ESCONDIDO (AFP)Hurricane Erick barreled down on Mexico's Pacific coast on Wednesday, having strengthened to a powerful Category 3 storm, the US National Hurricane Centre said, warning of potentially deadly is expected to bring "potentially destructive winds and life-threatening flash floods to portions of southern Mexico" late Wednesday and Thursday, the centre's latest bulletin 0000 GMT, Erick was moving northwest at a speed of nearly 15 kilometres per hour with maximum sustained winds approaching 195 km/h and higher gusts. The hurricane is expected to strengthen before making landfall, bringing with it storm surges, coastal flooding, and destructive warned of intense rainfall across the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, which is expected to bring "life-threatening flooding and mudslides."Mexican authorities said they were also expecting heavy rain in Chiapas Claudia Sheinbaum urged people to avoid going out and advised those living in low-lying areas or near rivers to move to Acapulco, a major port and resort city famous for its nightlife, police with bullhorns walked the beach and drove around town warning residents and holidaymakers of the storm's shops boarded up their windows and operators of tourist boats brought their vessels began in the late afternoon after a sunny day. About 400 kilometres south of Acapulco, the city of Puerto Escondido and its 30,000 inhabitants braced for the hurricane's effects. Restaurants were already closed despite tourists unwilling to give up their vacations, an AFP journalist noted from the scene."They say it's going to hit this side of the coast, so we're taking precautions to avoid having any regrets later," Adalberto Ruiz, a 55-year-old fisherman sheltering his boat, told Velazquez, national coordinator of civil protection, said the government was using patrols and social media to warn 2,000 temporary shelters have been set up in Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca, and hundreds of troops and electricity workers have been deployed to help with any clean-up authorities have suspended classes and closed ports along the coast, including the port of Acapulco, to sees major storms every year, usually between May and November, on both its Pacific and Atlantic October 2023, Acapulco was pummeled by Hurricane Otis, a powerful Category 5 storm that killed at least 50 people. Hurricane John, another Category 3 storm that hit Acapulco in September last year, caused about 15 deaths.
Sharjah 24
10-06-2025
- Sharjah 24
Off Mexico, season's hurricane reduced to a tropical storm
At 0300 GMT, Barbara was located around 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of the port of Manzanillo, with maximum sustained winds of 70 miles an hour (110 km/h), the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Forecast and advisory "Continued weakening is forecast, and the system is forecast to become a remnant low by Wednesday," the NHC said in an advisory. Coastal warnings The agency also warned that swells generated by Barbara would affect parts of the coast of southwestern Mexico during the next day or so. "These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions," it predicted. Heavy rain alerts Mexico's meteorological service earlier warned of heavy rains in coastal areas of the western states of Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacan. Another storm: Cosme Another storm, named Cosme, was located about 600 miles off the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, with sustained winds of 70 miles per hour, and was forecast to weaken later Tuesday, according to the NHC. Hurricane season in Mexico Hurricanes hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November. Recent events In October 2023, Hurricane Otis, a scale-topping Category 5 storm, left a trail of destruction and dozens dead after slamming into the Pacific beach resort of Acapulco.
Sharjah 24
08-06-2025
- Sharjah 24
Magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes Indian Ocean
The quake occurred at 23:20 GMT, with its epicentre located at a depth of 10 kilometres. There have been no immediate reports of material damage or casualties resulting from the earthquake.
